DAY TWELVE - FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2009

After a rough night of not sleeping, I arrived at work and checked my email. I was shocked to find an email from Sandra, a friend of Connie's, telling me that she had contacted a rescue in our area earlier the night before and asked them to help us save Buddy. She got a response from Vikki at the rescue at 2:19 in the morning (our time), indicating she had contacted the shelter and requested a stay of execution on the killing of Buddy and was making a claim under the Hayden Act to rescue the dog.

I immediately called Claudia and she said she had received the same email. She contacted the shelter and was told the "stay" would be for the day.

We again waited in anticipation all day. Time was running out and we were getting desperate! By 3:00, when we hadn't heard anything from the rescue organization, Claudia told me she had called BARC's and left a message, asking if they could assist us somehow. She asked me to call and leave a message, requesting their assistance also, so I did.

Shortly after 4:00 p.m., I finally got a call from Vikki of the Loving Pet Rescue. She said, "We got a "Yes", but it comes with conditions." I could hardly contain myself and was so happy, tears of joy started flowing. I asked her what the conditions were. First, she said we had to sign a waiver, releasing the County of any liability. I told her we had already agreed more than once to do that so it was no problem. She said the second condition was that they had to deliver the dog to either a vet or a behaviorist/trainer. This is the only way they would release the dog to us. I told her this was no problem and we would agree to whatever needed to be done to save this dog's life.

Vikki suggested meeting at the Shelter at 10:00 on Monday, and I told her that would work for both Claudia and I.  I thanked her and told her, "You don't know what this means to Claudia and I, Vikki. Thank you." She said, "No honey. Thank you. Thank you for caring enough to fight for this dog. Thank you!"

I then called Claudia and gave her the news. I told her what the conditions were, and she said she would contact the Cesar Millan Foundation and see if they could recommend a behaviorist trainer in the area. We then discussed going to feed Buddy after work, and I told her I'd meet her a little after 5:00.

I emailed Connie and Sandra and gave them both the good news and thanked them for all their prayers and their help. Without them, we wouldn't have won this battle.

I could hardly wait until 5:00. I met Claudia and we headed over the the Shelter. When we arrived in the parking lot, Claudia got a call from Jenifer, the behaviorist/trainer that the Cesar Millan Foundation had referred to us. They talked at length about Buddy, and I heard Jenifer tell Claudia, "Don't worry. We'll get him trained up for you." We couldn't believe it! This was our lucky day. We found a trainer who was willing to train the dog and was available to do so! We could't have asked for more. Okay, that's one hurdle we got over....

We checked in at the front desk and said we were there to feed #88. The two clerks at the front counter just kind of gave us an "Uh huh! You two!" look and waved us through.

As we headed towards Buddy's kennel, we went to the door that lead into the inside kennels, and we found it was locked. This is strange as it was never locked before. We then went around to Buddy's outside kennel and found he was not inside the kennel as it was empty. There was also an orange sign hanging on the kennel that said, "No More Impounds". Neither one of us knew what that meant.

At this time, I told Claudia I'd go back to the front desk and see if someone could let us inside so we could go to Buddy's inside kennel. As I was heading in that direction, two Animal Control officers met me at the door leading to the inside kennels and said they'd unlock the door. They then explained to me that they had been told to keep the door locked at all times now, that nobody was allowed inside without an escort. Hhhmmm.........that's something new. I then asked them if they could let the dog in kennel #88 out to his outside kennel so we could feed him, and they said they would.

I went back to Buddy's outside kennel where Claudia was waiting and told her what I had been told by the two Animal Control officers. We both agreed this was strange and something "new".

After a few moments, Buddy was let out to his outside kennel, and we started feeding him. He ate quite a bit and when he was finished eating, we sat with him for a while and pet him through the bars as much as we could. He was rather restless this evening and was acting strangely. At one point, he stood up and looked both of us in the eye (something he had never done) and started to wag his tail, but immediately stopped. I saw a wag! Did you see that Claudia? Yes, she saw it too! He actually started to wag his tail, for the first time since we met him! He then stood there and looked at both of us, with his tongue hanging out, kind of smiling a little. He then started pawing at the side of the kennel wall/corner as if to say, "Get me out of here!" We had never seen him do that before either. We told him we had finally won the battle and we were going to get him out of there, but it would just take a few more days. He seemed to sense something was different about us. Maybe he sensed our relief, that we weren't so stressed anymore because we knew he'd be leaving this place. He was in high spirits, and it was a wonderful thing to see! We actually saw light in his eyes, as if he really knew, "They did it. They won! They fought for me and won! Hallelujah!!"

We hated to say goodbye that night, but it was closing time again. We told him we'd be back the next morning to see him, that he just needed to hang in there for a couple more days. Somehow, we hoped he'd understand, as much as dog could anyway.

On the way out, as we walked by #60's kennel, I sensed something was wrong. He didn't come to the bars or anything, but was instead lying on his side in his inside kennel, looking out at us. Since it was closing time, we didn't have time to stop and encourage him to come out, but I told Claudia, "There's something wrong with #60. He's not greeting us like he always does."

We drove home that night and we still weren't elated, yet. We knew we had just won one battle, but there was still now another one before us--we still had to get Buddy out of this place--and that wasn't going to be an easy feat as we knew he probably wasn't going to go easily. Neither of us would be able to rest easy or celebrate until we got him out of there--we knew that. Actually, we weren't going to really be able to rest easy or celebrate until Buddy came home with one of us. Even once we got him out of this place, there was still a long road to recovery for him. Like I told Claudia, "One step at a time." That's all we could handle at the moment.

DAY ELEVEN - THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2009

Claudia had talked to Jamie, who had previously worked with the Humane Society, the night before and found out that Buddy did not have to be taken to the shelter when Mike had captured him. He could have originally been released to her, and the shelter notified that she had the dog in case its owner(s) came looking for him. She emailed Steven Singley of County Counsel and provided this information to him. He told her he would forward this information to the person who was deciding the fate of the dog and thanked her.

We spent most of the day Thursday, waiting in anticipation for an answer. Finally, at 4:05 p.m., Claudia emailed me and said, "Brian Cronin just visited me and the decision was made. The dog will be put to sleep." I couldn't believe it! I wrote back to her, "They kept us waiting for two days, just to tell us "No"?" I asked her what their reason was. She wrote back and said, "Still being sued and a release will not be done." So we were once again given more false hopes. I couldn't believe it.

Claudia asked me to call Connie and let her know and I said I would. I asked her if she wanted to go feed Buddy that night. I told her it'd be hard, but we still needed to feed him in case he wasn't eating. She wrote back that she didn't think she could at that point. She then asked me to call and find out when they were going to euthanize Buddy.

I called the Shelter and the person I spoke to told me, "Um....there's a possible adopter and we're working on getting him out of here, so he doesn't have a date." I told Claudia what I was told, and she wrote back that they obviously didn't know what was going on and asked me to call again. I called back and this time explained that I had been the "possible adopter" and have now been informed that the dog would be put down. I asked when this was going to happen. I was told to hold on, and after about thirty seconds, Greg Beck came on the line. I asked him, "Greg, when is Buddy going to be put down?" He simply said, "Tomorrow morning." I said, "Okay, thank you."

I again asked Claudia if she wanted to go feed Buddy, and we both agreed that we should in case he wasn't eating. I met her shortly after 5:00, and we both were very upset at this point. I was on my motorcycle so I parked it and got into her car with her. We both just sat for a while, fighting tears that we couldn't stop from coming. Claudia then told me, "I know we should go feed him, but I just can't." I hated to agree with her, but I felt the same way also. I was definitely too upset to get on a motorcycle and drive to the shelter at this time.

We made a couple phone calls to a couple different people about the matter, and afterwards, it was after 6:00, too late to head to the shelter anyway. We both decided we had better head home and go give our "kids" there a much needed hug. There was nothing more we could do about Buddy. I felt terrible that we hadn't gone to feed him, but I thought he'd somehow understand also and would perhaps settle for eating his dry dog food that night. I fought tears all the way home that night. When I got home, I hugged my three dogs tightly and told them how lucky they were. Of course, they responded with tail wags and kisses. If only we had the opportunity to see such a response from Buddy.........just once.

EUTHENASIA DAY - WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2009

I woke up not feeling too well because I hardly sleep at all. I got to work and was there a little over an hour when Claudia called me. She said, “We have a reprieve for Buddy until the end of the day.” I was shocked! I said, “How?” She explained that her dad was so upset and disgusted with the decision to euthanize the dog, he had gone to the shelter and talked with Greg Beck about his decision to put the dog down. He told Greg he wanted to file a formal complaint with the County, and then Greg asked him, ‘You really want this dog, huh?” He said, “Sure do.” Greg then said he’d give the dog a reprieve until the end of the day.

Claudia told me she had also called Greg Beck and spoke to him this same morning. She indicated he was very cold and mean to her on the phone. She said she felt this matter had turned into a "vendetta" for him as he now had egg on his face over his staff giving us incorrect information. She also indicated that a lot of people she knew had emailed the department after she told them what had happened. I asked her when a decision would me made, and she said probably not until tomorrow.

After I got off the phone with Claudia, I stopped and said a prayer, thanking God for giving Buddy a reprieve and asking him to provide a way for us to save him.

Claudia promptly drafted an email to Brian Cronin, Greg Beck’s boss, and sent it to him at 9:52 a.m. She explained to him in detail the whole story about the dog, starting with the beginning when we found the dog at the vacant transmission shop. She explained that she had originally contacted Animal Control several times to request they pick up the dog, but after there was no response from their personnel, she turned to the Humane Society to get their assistance in capturing the dog. She explained that due to the triple-digit temperatures, this dog needed to be taken off the streets before he died. She explained that she had been rescuing dogs for thirty years and had never been bitten by a dog. She also said she had been a police officer at one time and there were many times she had to jump over fences and walls into backyards where dogs were, and she was never bitten. She explained that her intent was just to rescue the dog from the street and find him a home, and had she known the outcome was going to be to euthanize the dog, she would have never had the dog taken to the shelter in the first place and would have instead worked with him longer in the field. She basically pled her case to the best of her ability, with compassion and sincerity.

At 9:54, Claudia also sent an email to Steve Singley of County Counsel and advised him briefly of the situation and attached a copy of the email she had sent to Brian Cronin, explaining the situation in detail. She received a response back from Steve at 12:45, indicating he would see what he could do about the situation and he needed to check with Risk Management.

Claudia received an email response from Brian Cronin at 11:32 a.m., acknowledging receipt of her email. Mr. Cronin explained the Shelter’s stance on dogs that show severe aggression towards staff and indicated it’s the Division’s responsibility to have their contract vet render a determination as to the adoptability of the animal. He indicated that “in the case of the animal you have found and obviously bonded with, this is the case. Our state licensed veterinarian has determined the animal you have in interest in is aggressive.” He went onto say that “there is always an exception to the rule” and indicated he "has asked the Program Manager for Animal Care and Control, Greg Beck, to develop a summary of the staff’s findings and will request that County Counsel develop a waiver or release of liability for this pet so we may consider adopting this dog to you. I hope you understand the significant liability the County assumes if we intentionally place an identified vicious or aggressive dog in a home and then someone gets injured.” He then indicated he would ask his assigned County Counsel to review the matter that afternoon and would let us know of his response.

We waited in anticipation all day, with our fingers crossed. In the mean time, we contacted Connie and kept her apprised of the situation. She told us to not give up home until the day was over, that she had a lot of people praying for Buddy. We told her we weren't about to give up hope. Afterall, Buddy wasn't dead yet!

We went and fed Buddy that night and gave him his usual "treats". He ate quite a bit and then we just sat with him a while, petting him through the bars as much as we could. Eventually, it was closing time though, and we had to leave him. We assured Buddy we would do everything we could to get him saved and released.

It was a long, quiet ride home that night, for both of us as we were both pretty lost in our own thoughts. There had to be a way to save this dog. There just had to be. Like I had told her many times over the past couple days, I again told Claudia, "We just have to keep praying." She agreed.

DECISION DAY - TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2009

We waited in anticipation all day for an answer about the dog. Claudia finally received a call at 4:00 from Mr. Beck, and he indicated the answer was “No” and they would be euthanizing the dog the next day. He indicated the liability factor was still a concern for them. Claudia called me and gave me the bad news. We were both very distraught and beside ourselves.

I was so upset at this time, I was crying at my desk. How could they just say "no" after all the time we spent with the dog, and why did Greg give us false hopes? I mean, he said, "If it was up to me, I'd let you have the dog." What changed? I had no idea.

I was not thinking real clearly at this time, and my emotions started getting the best of me. I drafted an email to Greg Beck in about ten minutes that vented all my frustration and anger at his decision. Not thinking clearly, as I said, I vented out a lot of hurt and anger in that email, and then I hit "Send". It wasn't 30 seconds after I hit "Send" that my phone rang and I could see it was Mr. Beck as his name showed on the display. I picked up the phone and said, "You couldn't have read that email that fast." He admitted he didn't but read enough.

We proceeded to get into a somewhat heated conversation, and at one point, he said, "I can't believe you sent an email like this to fellow County employee." I felt like saying, "I can't believe you're treating a fellow County employee like this", but I also knew that he didn't think anything was wrong with his behavior or treatment of Claudia and I. In his mind, he was just doing his job. I admitted to him that I was very emotional and upset at the moment. However, what got me about him is with everything I had said, the only thing that concerned him was that I said, "You yourself led us to believe yesterday that there was a chance we could adopt this dog, and now you've done a 180 and now say we can't. Why the antics yesterday, Greg?" He said, "What do you mean, antics?" I asked him, "You told us yesterday if it was up to you, you'd let us have the dog and now today, you tell us no, he's going to be euthanized tomorrow? You gave us false hope." He refused to acknowledge doing this and instead kept bringing up the liability issue with the County. I told him more than once we would have released the County of any liability.

We talked for several minutes, and at one point, I explained to Greg that he could have avoided all the hurt feelings in this situation if he or his staff would have told us from the beginning, when it appeared they had obviously made the decision that the dog was unadoptable--that the dog was unadoptable. Someone should have told us--not indirectly, but directly. Not insinuating or beating around the bush or hinting at it, but straight out. Greg said, "I thought my staff did tell you." I told him, "No, nobody told us the dog was unadoptable. Instead, they saw us coming in every day, twice a day on the weekends, feeding him and bonding with him. And your vet tech told us to adopt the dog as soon as he was available. Now why would she say that if she considered the dog unadoptable?" Of course, he couldn't answer that. After some haggling, he finally agreed, "Yes, you're right. Someone should have told you." I told him, "In the future, just tell the person. Don't let them come every day and feed or bond with a dog. Just tell them from the beginning!" He agreed and said he would talk to his staff about doing this in the future.

I emailed Claudia and asked her if she wanted to go feed Buddy after work. She wrote back and told me, “I just can’t. I want to but I can‘t.” I told her I’d go feed him because we knew he’d be hungry. I knew it would be hard, but I would do it anyway because I couldn’t stand the thought of him going hungry, especially on his last night living on this earth.Before she hung up, Claudia asked me if I would call Connie and let her know what the decision was. Connie is a friend in Alabama who we met over the internet after running across her blog about a dog she rescued. We had been in contact with her about our shelter rescue and had asked her for some advice about what to do with him once we got him home.

I called Connie and we spoke for several minutes. I told her what had been decided about Buddy, and she was literally appalled. Before we hung up, she told me, “Lori, don’t give up. There are a lot of people praying for this dog. I’m going to pray for a miracle.” I told her I wouldn’t give up and I’d be praying too.

I left work and drove out to the shelter. Since I didn’t have any food with me, I stopped at Burger King and got four double cheeseburgers (hold the pickles, ketchup, and mustard) for Buddy. When I got to the shelter, he was standing in his outside kennel. I tore off a piece of the cheeseburger and held it out for him. He came forward and ate it from my fingers. I sat and fed him all four cheeseburgers piece by piece. Piece by piece, he took ever so gently. I’ve never had a dog that took food so gently from my fingers.

My heart was breaking as I sat there with him, and I prayed to God to somehow save this dog. I told God, “You just can’t let him die after all this. Please, you can’t. He deserves a chance to be a dog, to be my dog, to have a life like what my dogs have. He’s probably never had that. Please Lord, don’t let him die.” I said goodbye to Buddy for the last time. He wouldn’t come up to the kennel bars to let me pet him, and I‘m not sure why. Perhaps he sensed my sadness. I tried to hide it, but dogs have a sixth sense, you know. I know he did. I told him I loved him and then said goodbye.

It was hard to see as I drove out of the parking lot of the shelter that night. If there was ever a time I needed God to intervene, it was now.

ADOPTION DAY - MONDAY, JULY 20, 2009

Finally--adoption day! Or so we thought. We arrived at the shelter at approximately 11:30 and went to kennel #88. We found Buddy lying in his outside kennel. I started feeding him, and Claudia asked if she should go ask the staff about having him sedated so we could take him home. I said sure, and she left to do so.

After about ten minutes or so, Claudia returned with a gentleman named Greg Beck. As Greg walked up, I noticed Buddy stopped eating and changed his whole demeanor. He got kind of a look on his face, as if to say, "What's he doing here?"

We talked about the dog for several minutes and Claudia explained to Greg how the dog had ended up at the shelter and how we wanted to adopt him. She told Greg she had been rescuing dogs for thirty (30) years so she had a lot of experience handling dogs. She also explained how Brenda had suggested we sedate him for the ride home. At this time, Greg replied, “You know, we’re just not in the business of adopting out dogs that have to be sedated. We couldn’t sedate him today anyway as our vet tech is the only one who can do that and she’s not here.”

At this time, I immediately stood up and said, “Your vet tech is the one who told us she’d be off today and said we would need to ask your staff to sedate the dog. She also said we needed to get this dog out of here as soon as possible because he‘s depressed.” Greg responded that he wasn’t sure why she told us that, but that he’d need to check into the matter further. He also said there was a liability factor that if the dog bit someone, the County could be held liable. We both told him we’d be willing to sign a release of liability.

Greg went on to say that his vet had deemed the dog to be aggressive and vicious. I replied, “The dog is being aggressive out of fear. He’s defending himself. It’s not that he’s vicious or aggressive. Any dog would act the same way if you invaded his space.” He replied, “You’re absolutely right, but my vet said this dog is not adoptable because he’s vicious and aggressive.” We then explained how the dog had shown no aggression towards us either while at the shelter or on the streets and was even now eating out of our hands. Greg responded, “Yeah, but he changed his whole demeanor when I walked up.” I said, “Yeah, he stopped eating.” Claudia responded with, “I don’t think he likes men.” (My thought was, he probably doesn’t like anybody with a scent from this place on him!)

We discussed the matter for several more minutes, and Greg indicated that he could not make a decision about the dog until he talked to his vet tech and his vet. He said he’d have a decision for us by the end of the day. He then asked Claudia how long we’d be there, and she replied, “We’ll be here for a couple hours.” He said he’d get back to us.

After Mr. Beck left, I told Claudia, "That explains why they've never placed a collar and I.D. number tag on this dog. They've never considered him adoptable. Not from the day he walked in the door."

A couple hours went by and no Greg Beck. We walked up to the front desk and I asked the receptionist if Mr. Beck had made a decision about the dog in kennel #88. She responded, “No, and Mr. Beck is at lunch.” I asked her if she knew when he’d be returning, and she said no. At this time, Claudia and I decided we would go back to Buddy’s kennel and wait for Mr. Beck to return from lunch.

We noticed the time, and it was 2:00 p.m. Most people are back from lunch by now, but not Mr. Beck. We looked at each other and said, “Uh huh. He thought if he’d wait long enough, we'd leave.”

We weren’t at Buddy’s kennel five minutes when Mr. Beck returned. (We figured the receptionist must have called him and told him, “You might as well come back. They’re not leaving!”) At this time, he said, “You know, if it was up to me, I’d let you have the dog. But I still want to talk to my vet and my vet tech and run it by my boss.” I responded, “That’s fair.” We talked a couple more minutes about the dog, and he then told us that he’d have an answer for us the next day as his vet tech was off today and he still needed to talk to her, along with his vet. We said we’d be waiting for his call.

On the way out, we stopped at kennel #60 and said hello to the black and white Pit Bull inside. As usual, he was very happy to see us and his whole body wiggled as he wagged his tail. We both commented how cute he was and how we wished we could take him home too. Little did we know at that time........

We were both rather somber on the way home and totally shocked about the way things had transpired. Here, we went through the trouble of getting this dog off the streets, thinking we were doing the right thing for him, only to be told we may not be able to adopt him, after we had bonded so deeply with him. It just wasn't fair. Neither one of us could stand the thought of the dog being euthanized and were prepared to put up a fight if that was the case. Buddy would not go down without a fight; that's for sure. If it was the last thing we did.....

DAY SEVEN - SUNDAY, JULY 19, 2009

I went to church, and Claudia went to the shelter and arrived right after it opened. She fed Buddy and spent some time with him. She noticed the shelter was very quiet and didn’t see a single soul the whole time she was there, which she estimated to be a couple hours.

We returned later that evening, and we found Buddy in his outside kennel. We fed him his usual--hotdogs, chicken breast, liverwurst, and dog food. The dog food seemed to be his least favorite, of course. Talk about spoiled! Already! However, we coaxed him to eat some, and he did. We both noticed that his mouth had started healing and looked much better. He was getting more and more used to us, as he now ate and then laid next to the doors of his kennel so we could pet him. He seemed to be getting more responsive to the human touch as his eyes would close whenever we scratched him behind the ear. There was no licking or tail-wagging yet, but we knew, in time, they would come.

We sat with him until it was closing time and then we said goodbye. However, this time we told him, “Just one more night, boy. We’ll be back to get you out of here tomorrow morning. Just hang in there for one more night.”

DAY SIX - SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2009

We went to see Buddy and brought Claudia’s dad, David, with us. We waited in the lobby for an escort, and Brenda met us and escorted us to kennel #88. At this time, Brenda removed the Pit Bull from Buddy’s kennel and placed him in an empty kennel two doors down from Buddy.

Buddy was lying in his outside kennel, and we started feeding him. He must have been hungry as he immediately started eating the hotdog pieces that we threw on the floor of his kennel. As he approached, I took a hotdog piece and offered it to him by sticking my fingers through the bars of his kennel. To my surprise, he took it right from my fingers, and he took it more gently than any dog I’ve ever known! Claudia also was also able to feed him from her hand.

We proceeded to feed him hotdogs, liverwurst, chicken breast, and canned dog food, and he ate everything but the dog food right from our hands. The dog food he ate from a fork. The liverwurst was definitely his favorite though. How did I know this? Because when he was full, he’d turn his nose up at everything but that, and he ate that until it was gone!

On our way out, we stopped by kennel #60 to visit the black and white Pit Bull. In spite of where he was, he was always so happy to see us. His tail always went a mile a minute! We all three poked our fingers through the bars and let him lick them and petted him as much as we could between the bars. Claudia's Dad, David, also mentioned how cute and friendly the dog was, and we totally agreed as we had noticed that the first time we saw him. We hated to have to say good bye to him, but it was time leave.

On the way home, we were somewhat elated and felt Buddy had crossed another milestone. He seemed to no longer fear either of us and was starting to trust us and get to know us. It wasn’t much, but it was something! In fact, it was more than we could have hoped for.